TIMMINS - A curt email from an unnamed resident suggests the local services board 'stick to housing,' but the CAO is asking whether the board should be offering other services too, based on community need.
The question is being put to the Cochrane District Services Board (CDSB) this week.
A report from CAO Brian Marks was sent to CDSB members before the September board meeting, and officially added to this month's agenda for discussion. The meeting is tomorrow (Thursday, Oct. 17). The report asks members to consider whether the agency should continue offering non-mandated services or stick with its core services.
"Maintaining only mandated services will see less exposure to negative media and less financial risk to CDSB. However, focusing only on mandated services will result in increased costs to area hospitals, public health, police and municipal bylaw enforcement and contribute to capacity challenges across the spectrum of service providers including municipalities," writes Marks in the report.
The report comes after Marks received a message on Sept. 11, days after the CDSB announced its plans for the Wellness Centre of Excellence, a proposed mental health and addiction treatment facility in the west end of Timmins.
"Have you ever considered stepping away from addiction issues and letting someone else take that over," reads the message sent to Marks by a local resident, whose name isn't included in the report. "Stick to housing and getting that right before trying to manage or buy a hotel ... you may wanna consider letting addiction be handled by the Ministries ... with no credibility at all in the community the DSSAB may want to stick to the mandate of housing and get good at that first."
The core mandated services of the CDSB are paramedic services, community housing, children's services and Ontario Works.
While the report outlines changes over the years, the financial impact of any potential changes is not included.
The CDSB's 2024 approved budget was $88 million, which is covered by municipal, provincial and federal funding. The City of Timmins' portion of that was $11.9 million, a 6.56 per cent increase over 2023. CDSB was one of two local boards that refused to lower its budget after the city asked for the agency to put its increase in line with the municipal increase.
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The CDSB report outlines the agency's changes over the years, starting in 2008 when homelessness prevention was added, with most funding for preventing evictions and utility disconnections.
In 2012, housing development was added. The report says this was because the federal and provincial housing development stopped in the '80s and '90s and "district municipalities needed to try and retain and attract people."
There were several changes in 2016.
The CDSB supported the Youth Welness Hub and community paramedic services were added by the province.
That year, the CDSB — then known as the Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board (CDSSAB) — supported creating the city's first emergency shelter. Located on Cedar Street North, the CDSB provided funding and rented the location for the original site of Living Space.
Living Space moved to a larger location on Spruce Street South in 2021. Its original Cedar Street location was later used for Safe Health Site Timmins, a supervised consumption site that closed this past summer.
In 2023, the CDSB started petitioning the Attorney General for cash for justice centre needs assessment.
"The justice centre is intended to break the cycle of 'catch and release' crimes by offering a different court setting that will include supports for the offender specific to their needs and the needs of the community," reads the report.
This year, the board has been working on the WCE proposal and approved buying the Ramada Inn hotel at 1800 Riverside Drive to house it.
RELATED: Service board officially backs proposed Timmins treatment facility
SEE: Timmins council wants more after 'botched' roll out of treatment centre plans
The rollout of the WCE has been controversial.
A public information session left many people with more questions than answers and led Timmins Coun. Rock Whissell to resign from the CDSB board.
At the last Timmins council meeting in September, a motion was approved to have the community partners involved in the hub application to present at a council meeting clearly explain the hub model, what services would be delivered, and the potential impacts on the neighbourhood.
The WCE proponents were not at Tuesday's council meeting. The deadline to submit the HART Hub application is on Friday, Oct. 18.
The agency posted frequently asked questions on its Facebook page on Sept. 19, but there has been no public communication since. TimminsToday reached out to CDSB for comment and has not received a response.
An update on the WCE is also on Thursday's agenda, but there is no report attached.
"All of the above initiatives have been approved by the board to create the environment within which outcomes for the people served by the CDSB can be achieved. For example, emergency shelters will not end homelessness, housing will not end homelessness, mental health services will not end homelessness, addictions treatment services will not end homelessness, and enforcement will not end homelessness, but put them together and the stage is set to end homelessness for many people," reads the report.
The full report is available here.
Meetings are held at the CDSB building on Algonquin Boulevard. The public is not allowed to sit in on the meeting, but it can be watched live online. The link to join is shared at cdsb.care on the day of the meeting.
